Anime Progress Report 03-13-2008

Hayate no Gotoku (up to episode 28) – Hinagiku as Utena was totally hilarious, I want more! Hehehe. At the rate I’m going, I might catch up with the subs next week. Again I wonder why I even let episodes accumulate in the first place when this anime is just so random and funny–if you can just get the parody/joke.

Gundam 00 (up to episode 9) – Slowly slugging through this. I’m still not totally sold on the story–or more importantly on the characters. The geopolitical backdrop is interesting and more realistic than past Gundam series that I’ve seen. However, yes, the characters still count. They just can’t make me really care for them yet.

ARIA Origination (up to episode 10) – More on the fantasy side, the opposite of Gundam 00 (minus the mecha). However, this is one show where all characters shine in their own way. It’s just too bad that it will only be 13 episodes. Just when you think you’ve seen the best episode, the next one turns out also as good as the previous one, if not better. Now if only crystalnova can hurry up with their subs. I can understand 60-80% from the raws, but I still have my limits. By the way, 2 of my most memorable episodes seems to involve Alice (the one where she is curious about Alicia not getting angry, and when she becomes Prima), and the other one with Aika (with the flashback with Akira when the former was a child).

Dekkai hazukashii desu ~

Ghost Hunt (up to episode 2) – The episodes I’ve seen haven’t bored me so far. But then again maybe because I don’t watch a lot of shows about ghosts. I usually don’t.

Shion no Ou (up to episode 18) – As exciting as ever, despite my lack of knowledge on shougi. When Hani-Meijin vs Shion gets underway, I’m going to rely again on facial expressions of the characters to get a feel of the situation. Right now, I’m getting the itch to read the manga. But what’s stopping me is the fear of repeating the Claymore experience. My only wish is a really conclusive ending to this series–like showing the identity of the one who murdered Shion’s real parents.

Kimikiss Pure Rouge (up to episode 22) – It’s amazing how a new perspective can improve your appreciation of a show. Before that, it used to be that I had to be moved by a certain scene/happening/character to be able to like/appreciate a show, or parts of it. I never did really try to put myself in a character’s shoe, and try to really think if what they did was plausible or logical. As the characters in Kimikiss discover their true feelings (Kazuki/Mao/Eriko, etc), I have also become more interested than ever on how everything will end. It now depends on how they act on their feelings (or how the show’s writers’/producers would like to end it anyway). I want a Kazuki x Eriko ending the most, and I’d be terribly disappointed otherwise.

Gunslinger Girl Il Teatrino (up to episode 5) – Where are the subs…I guess I’ll just have to make do with raws. Darn.

Recently, I’ve also been on a movie-watching mood. I’ll try to review ones that I have the most to say about, preferably before the April deluge.

Last but not the least, I declare March to be the month of lists. I’ll try to post whatever list I can come up with.